


Take on all Challengers

by emmettspeaks



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: M/M, conversation with renga for once <3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-20
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-29 01:27:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30148629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmettspeaks/pseuds/emmettspeaks
Summary: Reki has refused to come back to "S", even with Langa telling him how much he means to him and their other friends. So the only thing left is for Langa to challenge him to a beef.
Relationships: Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki, Renga - Relationship
Comments: 1
Kudos: 66





	Take on all Challengers

**Author's Note:**

> Not really angsty or fluffy, just renga having a genuine conversation and beef with each other.

Reki, with hair covering most of his face, glared his amber eyes up at Langa, wrenching his hand away from the blue-haired boy’s reach.  
“Honestly, there’s nothing you can say to bring me back to ‘S’”. Reki sneered.  
Langa gaped at him. Langa had tried everything to get Reki to see reason. He’d told him how much he valued him, how much his friends missed him being around, but he just wasn’t getting through to him. Reki had called him a liar, said he was just saying nice things because Reki was upset. But that wasn’t it. Langa did say those things because Reki was upset and he wanted Reki to understand and be happy, but there was more to it. Langa had only said those things because they were true.  
“Nothing will convince you huh?” Langa retorted, still clutching the skateboard that Reki had made him under one arm.  
Reki crossed his arms over his chest, still glaring at Langa. Langa felt his heart twist inside his chest, missing Reki’s sunny smile.  
“What’s one of the first rules of ‘S’ you told me about?” Langa asked.  
Reki flashed him a puzzled look.  
“There aren’t any rules in ‘S’. Adam uses that to his advantage after all.” Reki responded bitterly, barely looking at Langa.  
“There’s an unwritten rule that you told me after you gave me my ‘S’ badge,” Langa replied evenly.  
“Oh yeah?” Reki inquired, his tone cold. “And what’s that?”  
He isn’t even trying to remember, Langa realized.  
“You take on all challengers. More specifically, you don’t back down from a challenge. You told me that, remember?”

Reki shifted his feet anxiously.  
“Yeah, I seem to recall that now that you’ve said that.” Reki said simply.  
“Good. Then—” Langa reached his hand out for Reki and put his board down to stand on it at the same time.  
“I challenge you to a beef.”

Reki looked from Langa’s hand to his face and back again.  
“What are you doing?” Reki demanded, stepping backwards to get away from him.  
“What do you think I’m doing?” Langa retorted. “I’m challenging you to a beef. It’s the only way to get you to snap out of whatever is going on with you.”

Reki slapped Langa’s hand away from him, his eyes wide and angry again.  
“What the hell are you talking about? I said I gave up skating, I’m never going back to ‘S’.”

Langa sighed.  
“The Reki I know would never back down from a challenge, would never leave his friends when they needed him. And you’re not him. But I’m going to bring that Reki back if it kills me. I challenged you, and your own rule says you can’t back out. So?”

Reki looked at Langa like he wanted to punch him, but he didn’t. Instead, he closed his eyes and after a moment, begrudgingly replied,  
“Fine. One beef. That’s it. But you can’t go easy on me. Even if you did, I know you would beat me.”

Langa breathed out heavily.  
“I’m not doing this to beat you, Reki. But okay, let’s both try our best. I’ll race you to “S”.  
Reki scoffed and rolled his eyes. He couldn’t believe he was indulging Langa.  
“Fine.” Reki said. 

The two of them placed their boards equidistant from each other. Langa looking Reki in the eyes, but Reki not meeting his.  
“Ready?” Langa asked him.  
“Ready.” Reki confirmed, still not looking at Langa.  
“Okay. On 3,” Langa replied. “1, 2, 3.” 

Both Langa and Reki rocketed forward on their boards, both of them neck and neck. A turn way coming up, followed by a straight away and Langa immediately went into skating mode. He constantly had his eyes on the curves of his path, calculating what his next step should be. He looked over to Reki who was having no problem on the flat path before him. Langa had chosen this route specifically because it was not like the “S” routes, he was used to. There were less opportunities for both of them to pass each other or use crazy tactics like smacking into trees to turn. It felt more even of a course to take on, and was something new, for Langa at least. Reki fell back a bit at a curve, but Langa resisted the urge to look back and make sure his friend was okay. He knew if he did, it would just prove to Reki that Langa was babying him, and that’s the last thing Langa wanted to do. 

But should he call out to Reki in a teasing way? He usually didn’t do that to his opponents, but Reki wasn’t like most of his opponents. Reki had taught him how to skate, was his friend who he cared about immensely. Langa decided against it, as Reki was fragile right now, and any sort of teasing he did would only make Reki more frustrated and angry. 

Up ahead was a tight squeeze followed by a large hill where the two of them would plummet downwards for a long time and although Langa dived down through it, Reki was more reserved. He slowed down as the two of them approached the hill while Langa sped up, loving the adrenaline rush that resulted from the air lifting him upward as he went straight down.

Langa heard Reki call out to him before he disappeared down the hill and out of sight from the red-head, but Langa had to focus to make sure his board didn’t break once he reached the bottom and continue to the straight away.  
“I’m fine!” Langa called, to make sure Reki knew he was okay. Reki didn’t respond, but he saw Reki streaming down the hill after him. Langa couldn’t help but flash him a smile as Reki screamed with joy at the rush of going down the hill.  
“Wooooo hoooo!” He cried out as he made it to the bottom of the hill, just behind Langa. Once he caught up to Langa though, his smile disappeared as if it hadn’t been there at all. 

Just ahead was the gate to “S”, the light glinting off the moon on the fence looking like tiny stars. Upon seeing the gate, Langa sped up, leaving Reki scrambling to catch up. As they approached the closed gate, Reki was left behind as Langa’s longer legs allowed him to speed up faster than Reki could. Langa took the last turn easier due to his wheels being able move left and right. He slowed down and dismounted just before the gate, grabbing his board and waiting for Reki. Reki approached, slowing down until he fully reached the gate, touching it with a hand.  
“So you won. Nice.” Reki mumbled, getting off his board and going over the gashes in it with his thumbs. 

Langa raised his eyebrows.  
“I guess I did.” Langa replied quietly.  
Reki flung his arms upward, exasperated.  
“What was this all about? It’s obvious you’re still better than me. What were you trying to prove exactly?” Reki demanded.  
Langa groaned, annoyed enough he felt like he might cry. 

“Reki, you’re still not getting it. I don’t give a shit about winning,” Langa growled. Reki looked taken aback.  
“You seem to really enjoy beefs when you’re here,” Reki pointed towards the gate.  
“It’s not about winning.” Langa repeated. “It’s never been about winning.”  
“But—”  
“You think I care that much about winning? Do you think that lowly of me that you think that’s all I care about?” Langa’s blue eyes were narrowed to slits of ice.  
“Yes, winning can be exhilarating or whatever,” He continued. “But I don’t care about winning. I’ve never cared about winning. I did the beefs, I skated because it was fun. Because I hadn’t had fun since my Dad died! Did you think for one second that I might need to have a little bit of fun in my life?”

Reki had never seen Langa so upset. But he wasn’t sure what to do. He was still pissed at Langa, and now Langa was pissed at him. He decided to keep his distance. 

Langa took a breath and seemed to be calming down.  
“And it was fun meeting new people through skating. And yeah, people cheering me felt great. But that’s not why I loved it. My heart didn’t pound in my chest because of all of that.” Langa looked up to face Reki, smiling fondly at his friend.  
“It was because of you.” Langa told him quietly. 

It was as if the words hadn’t fully registered in Reki’s consciousness, because his face was unreadable. It looked like a mixture of confusion and disbelief and something else Langa couldn’t quite place.  
“What do you mean ‘because of me’?” Reki asked, his voice breathless. His arms crossed over his chest protectively. He couldn’t let Langa hurt him again. He just couldn’t. He wouldn’t let himself be hurt ever again. 

“You taught me how to skate, idiot.” Langa replied, a twinge of teasing to his voice. “You’ve been cheering me on since day 1. The exhilaration you talked about, I felt it. I felt it when you were cheering me on, even back when I was duck taping my feet to my board. That feeling has never left me. Even when I want to give up, you’re always there cheering me on, telling me I can do it, that I can win. It’s all I need to keep going when I want to give up.”

Langa felt tears start to fall down his cheeks. This was the most vulnerable he’d ever felt, but he knew Reki needed to hear it all. Reki needed to know how he’d come along when Langa had needed someone the most.  
“There was a time after my dad died, that I wanted to give up. It was shortly before we moved here. I was having a really hard time, and thought I missed my dad too much. He had always been my drive and without him, life was too hard. But then you came along and…gave me hope, made me have something to focus on besides how fucking sad and empty my house is without my dad. I’m never going to stop being grateful for that.”  
“Langa—“Reki tried.  
“You matter Reki. You matter, and not just because you help me. You don’t just matter because of what you can give to others. You matter because you are a good person. You’re good and kind and funny and great to have around. I can see the real you when you skate, when you build boards. You give me this look that can light up city blocks with its brightness. Your smile is so intense when you talk about skating, it kills me that you can’t even see it. It kills me not to see you doing the things you love to do, just because you think you’re not as good at it. Everyone skates differently and we’re all at different skill levels. Reki, no one skates the way you do! Your passion for skating is everything!”

Reki tried to collect all his thoughts. 

“Why are you saying all these things—”  
“Because I mean them.” Langa replied instantly. “I have a hard enough time with Japanese as it is. Do you think I would waste my time if what I was saying wasn’t true?”

Reki couldn’t help but chuckle at that.  
“Good point.” He said.  
“Yeah.”

There was an awkward pause that passed between them. Then Reki said,  
“I’m still mad at you.” 

Langa looked at him, surprised. He was at least expressing himself, he thought. 

“That’s fine. You don’t have to forgive me. I was shitty to you. I just want you to know that I’m sorry. You can be as mad as you want at me for however long you need.” Langa assured him. 

Reki felt his angry fascade crumble.  
“I don’t want to be mad at you.” He told Langa, his voice wobbling as he felt tears form at the brims of his eyes. 

The emphasized word “want” caught Langa’s attention.  
“Then what do you want?” Langa asked, genuinely not knowing the answer Reki would give for once.  
“I—”

Reki had never been genuinely speechless before.  
“I just have a lot to think about,” Reki finished finally.  
“Okay.” Langa said. “I’ll still be here for when you want to talk again.”

Langa started to walk away but then he felt a hand on his shoulder, keeping him from moving.  
“I want to come back to skating. I just…”Reki paused.

He didn’t like feeling vulnerable. He didn’t want to give away more of his secrets to Langa. But he felt like he had to say something.  
“It’s gonna take time, and I still struggle with like…asking for stuff. It always feel selfish when I do, like I’m attention seeking or selfish. But I’ll try. So—”

He took a deep breath in and then let it out.  
“For starters, can you teach me the backside rodeo move you do sometime?” Reki asked, blushing out of embarrassment. 

Langa gave him a long look. Even with Reki mostly facing away from him, he could tell that the real Reki was back. 

He placed a soft hand on Reki’s shoulder, waiting for him to pull away, but he didn’t. 

“Of course,” He said, smiling at his friend. “I’d be happy to show you anytime.”


End file.
